IWAC 2014: Where did the currents take me?

I just returned from the 2014 IWAC (International Writing Across the Curriculum) Conference at the University of Minnesota, and I have to say it was one of my best conference experiences yet. The presentations were engaging, the people were open and friendly, and Minneapolis was a great city.

During my brief two days there, I managed to sit in on 5 panels, one in which I presented, a keynote, and an incredible plenary session. In truth, it made me a little sad that I'm not a WAC WPA because I would have loved the opportunity to implement some of the ideas that were discussed at the universities where I am involved in writing pedagogy.

The Panels

Here is a brief overview of the titles of the panels that I attended:

• Role Reversal: When Students Teach Faculty in WAC Programs - Deanna Daniels & Brandy Grabow, Kate Ronald & Lucy Manley, and Greg Skutches
• Writing Beyond the Curriculum - Nicole Papaioannou, Dan Reis & Caroline Klidonas, and KaaVonia Hinton & Yonghee Suh
• Interrogating Disciplinarity in WAC/WID: An Institutional Ethnography - Anne Ruggles Gere, Naomi Silver, & Melody Pugh
• Teaching Meaningful Writing: What Faculty Say About Writing Assignments in Their Disciplines - Michele Eodice, Anne Ellen Geller, & Neal Lerner
• Multimodal Literacy: Writing, Reading, & Transfer - Andrea Glover, Maggie Christensen, and G. Travis Adams

I will take some time to address the larger issues in each of these panels in separate posts, but I wanted to recap some of the big questions that I've started to ask as a result of these panels and some of the discussion that followed. I picked one large question that was sparked by each.

• Does the campus culture empower students?
• How can on-campus organizations make use of student writers and also enhance student writing?
• How do we frame disciplines? Should we moving toward a theory of centers rather than a theory of boundaries?
• What makes a writing assignment meaningful?
• Should we shift to a WRAC model (writing and reading across the curriculum)?

These questions may be brief in text, but responses are complex, and the ways in which those responses shape student learning experiences and faculty development are important.

The Plenary

The plenary session focused on creating sustainable WAC programs and was led by an A-team of scholars-- Chris Anson, Kathleen Blake Yancey, Chris Thaiss, Linda Adler-Kassner, and Bob McMaster-- who role-played how they would deal with a failing, under-resourced WAC program (a very cool divergence from the traditional plenary talk). Anson would propose scenarios, building the complexities facing the school bit by bit, and the 5 others would respond on the fly. They did not know what they would be asked beforehand.

 As some who hopes to be a WPA one day, I was really intrigued by how the scholars embodied the different thought processes, concerns, and strengths of each individual involved in a WAC initiative, ranging from department chairs to WAC directors to provosts to students. I thought, aside from having a bit of fun, they were incredibly in-tune with those that they served and incredibly empathetic. It helped me see what I might come up against should I someday be invited to try to enhance or save a WAC program.

The speakers reminded the audience that sustainability went beyond a current context and a current moment and planned for the future. The solution also had to be built within the framework of the local context with input from all stakeholders (as much as possible, that is). Top-down initiatives would feel imposing and oppressive and often fail to effectively use the strengths of the parties involved. Collaboration, where possible, is a wonderful thing.

The most important things I took away were:

1. Understand the campus climate and be prepared to work within it, even if the aim is to change it. No model is one-size-fits-all when it comes to campus writing initiatives.
2. Be sensitive to people's fears and frustrations. See challenges as moments for reflection, negotiation, or collaborative education.
3. Bring joy into the work. Focus on the pleasures of learning from one another and the pleasure of writing.

What seems evident from these talks and discussions is that the people here really care about their students and their colleagues. While many people were doing serious research, it was easy to see how much of it could be put into practice and was largely aimed at contributing to a positive learning environment for everyone involved. IWAC really made me excited about the work I'm doing, the field that I intend to contribute to, and continued interactions with the people who I am privileged to call my colleagues. I'm looking forward to (fingers crossed) attending again in 2016.

I would love to hear from IWAC-attendees about their experiences at the conference and from those interested in campus writing initiatives what to make of some of these big questions and themes.

EDM in the Classroom

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of experiencing a wild weekend of dancing at the Electric Zoo Festival in New York City, a huge annual electronic dance music (EDM) festival held on Randall's Island. It was an incredible experience. Thousands of people of all ages, from toddlers to the rare elderly individual, came to this event and danced together to different genres of EDM music and high-powered light shows. I met people from all over the country and even from other countries, including an entertaining trio from London on my ferry ride home the last day and a duo from Serbia.

EDM and Education

Like education, EDM is comprised of many different genres and draws people from all walks of life. Under the umbrella of EDM falls disco-like dance tracks, ambient trance music, punk-rock-esque dubstep and much more, and at EDM festivals, you are likely to find all of these genres of music co-existing. You are also likely to find a very diverse crowd, one that represents different style "cliques" (ravers, hippies, yuppies, etc.), as well as individuals of different socio-economic status, races, and genders from all different regions. This music has a pull that reaches far beyond any one group. In these ways, it is similar to liberal arts education. EDM asks its followers to respected diversity, encourages collaboration, and relies on technology. For this reason, I thought EDM was worth exploring as a tool for thinking about education.

Here are some of the basic concepts of EDM that are useful in the classroom:

Technology immersion and play: Students are often hesitant to learn new technologies or theories, and the education system prefers to "drill" students rather than give them hands on experiences. Electronic dance music obviously makes use of electronics. Technology is a staple of the business, and more so now, then ever. The music is often made on computers, mixed on computers, and played using computers. DJs tell me that when they are first starting to learn the trade, they just have to throw themselves in and play around. James Paul Gee's Why Video Games are Good for the Soul similarly states that students learn through play because it immerses them in worlds that they are forced to learn how to navigate. Students should have the opportunity to play and make mistakes, get feedback from an audience, and continue to improve their craft. 

Social networking: DJs and producers, as well as fans of the music, have said that social networking is a major part of the reason why EDM is becoming so popular. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Hardwell and Morgan Page agree that social networking is essential to the success of the genre. The music stayed underground for years. Considering the music was not mainstream, it was difficult to find and share tracks. Now, they get passed along through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc, and most of the music-makers love it.

 What I learn from these DJs/producers is that people learn when they connect, and they find out things they "never knew they never knew." I see tweets almost daily from my favorite DJ/producers about new facts that they learned. In response, educators should be incorporating these tools in our classroom should be important to us.

Ethnography: Because the scene is bursting into the public eye, people are constantly talking about the EDM community, asking the question "What does it mean to be a fan of EDM?" Those who want to be a part of it or simply learn more about it are trying to navigate the codes and acquire the vocabulary. Blogs like Dancing Astronaut and magazines like Rolling Stone cover what makes this community tick and why it's finally surging into the mainstream after being kept underground for so many years.

Students learning to do ethnographic writing can study these glimpses into the community as a sample of what it means to do research on communities. Though it's clearly satirical, Dom Mazzetti's "Dom Mazzetti vs. EDM" YouTube video is just one example that I have used in the classroom. It's a great way to talk about the use of satire, stereotypes, and alternate forms of learning.

Creating an experience: EDM producers and event organizers aim to create experiences, not just pieces of music. They aim to take listeners on an emotional journey. This is what I also believe any really good piece of writing should do, and exploring how these musicians do it is just one way we can help students think about how they can do it with their own writing.

P.L.U.R. and Everyday Living

Finally, I know that electronic dance music (EDM) gets a bad wrap sometimes because people associate it with party drug culture (which I do not, and have never, participated in), but I think the actually foundations of the EDM movement are very positive and do in someways describe my outlook on teaching and life. Ravers are supposed to live by a code-- PLUR.

PLUR stands for peace, love, unity, and respect. These are the aspects that I feel are essential to living a good life and part of why I love EDM so much. They represent so much of what democratic education ideally intends to do. It encourages diversity, rejects violence, and asks people to collaborate. This doesn't mean that differences cannot exist or that people cannot disagree, but simply that we allow for pluralism and show each other kindness.

---

To see more about Electric Zoo, you can check out this great photojournal from Rolling Stone: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/electric-zoo-festival-2012-20120831

Even My Rabbit Can Google

It frustrates me IMMENSELY when students-- or anyone for that matter-- tell me, "Oh, I don't know what that word meant," "I didn't know how to cite that in MLA style" (especially after we've gone over it in class and shared multiple resources detailing how to), "I didn't know who so-and-so was," or "I didn't know that [insert major current event] was happening." There are some things that are tough to come by, but definitions, citation guides, biographies, and major world events are not any of them. 

If my rabbit can figure out how to open up Google, so can you!

Cluck hopped around on the keyboard
and managed to open up Google without my assistance.

Like I said, some things aren't easy to find (for instance, a free live stream of the Super Bowl), but many times people are simply lazy. Today, we have the biggest library in the world at our fingertips, the Internet, but people don't want to spend an extra 15 minutes looking up something they don't know. As a teacher/tutor/tech-savvy individual, they expect me to give them answers that they never bothered to tried to find on their own. Sure, I can teach you how to search, but I will not search for you. That's your job. Not mine.

This often translates into writing as well. People who won't spend an extra 5 minutes looking up a definition to a word they don't know or spend an extra 15 minutes to find a really good source rather than a mediocre one are often unwilling to take the time to problem-solve in their writing. In other words, their evidence is minimal, their analysis is surface level, and their claims are rarely unique.

In conclusion, I urge you, if you don't know something, look it up! You won't learn much if you expect to be spoon fed all of the answers in life.

Music as Activism: Sountracks to Student Projects

Each semester, I have made sure to spend at least one day talking about music and lyrics as forms of activism. I have my students read the lyrics of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," Linkin Park's "Hands Held High," and Eminem's "Like Toy Soldiers." I also share YouTube videos of these songs, so that they can listen to the them as they read the lyrics. In class, we talk about which songs were effective at carrying across their message and do close readings, dissecting lyrics, talking about tone, and evaluating audience appeal.

Today, they also used this conversation about music to workshop their Writing as Activism projects, all of which are based upon very different topics. These are the instructions for the workshop:

Click to See Blog Post: http://npclass.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/the-soundtrack-to-your-project/

As far I have seen (some students took it home to complete), all of my students chose option # 1: the sountrack. While on the surface, the workshop might sound silly, students actually learn quite a bit about Composition by doing it. It requires students to:

• consider the aspects of their topic that they wanted to highlight. 
• perform close readings of songs to establish whether or not those songs actually represented the issues that they wished to highlight. 
• figure out the best way to organize the soundtrack for an audience and how to use that organization to contribute to their message.
• analyze their choices.

As students worked on this workshop, the classroom became vibrant. You could hear all different genres of music softly playing on laptops. Some of the students were giggling at the videos and lyrics. It was 35 minutes where every student was on-track, focused on the task at hand.

It was also a collaborative effort, though I didn't intentionally make it one. Students were talking to one another, sharing their iTunes libraries, and helping each other find songs on YouTube. They were asking "why that song?" and, though they may have just been curious, they were forcing their fellow students to consider their choices.

And of course, this workshop was also a great way for students to learn to use technology. I am super lucky to have a school that provides every student with a laptop and wireless access in every classroom. Since they are given these tools, I believe it is my job to make the most of them. This project required them to fine tune key words in order to search for songs and lyrics. Though this seems like an easy task on the surface, one of the most challenging tasks when it comes to academic research is finding the right search terms to use in the databases. Learning how to construct key words and how to find sources to help you complete your task are important skills.

In the end, I was impressed by the soundtracks that my students compiled. They put a good deal of thought into them. Even the students who had challenging topics, for which practically no songs directly addressed the issue, managed to figure out what they wanted to say about those topics and find songs to help them make sense of their activist projects. Some of them even shared links to the songs so that I could listen to them. All in all, I think this is a workshop I will be assigning in future courses.

Face(less)book: Why Colleges Should NOT Use Facebook to Screen Applicants

image from sanangelolive.com

Today, Ryan Lytle of US News published an article titled "College Admission Officials Turn to Facebook to Research Students." The article reveals a growing trend of college admission officials using Facebook and other forms of media to check up on applicants. The consequences can be serious, as Lytle reveals:

In the Kaplan Test Prep survey, 12 percent of respondents who reported checking social media sites noted that posts—such as vulgar language in a status update or alcohol consumption in photos—negatively impacted a prospective student's admissions chances.

Some of the interviewees believe that Facebook is public access, and therefore, the school's right. While Florence Hines of McDaniel College was not one of them, she does say:

"I believe the reality that if this trend increases, students need to be very cautious of the fact that admissions offices will use this information."

As a student and someone hoping to join the ranks of professional academics in the near future, I think this is utterly ridiculous. Colleges screening applicants on Facebook? Really? Will we be installing Big Brother in college dorm rooms next?

When I was a high school student, I never smoked or drank or did anything completely appalling, but I also know I changed immensely throughout college, especially during my first year. And making mistakes is part of the process of adolescence. Who hasn't sworn to seem cool as a teenager at least once? Who didn't say or do something as a teenager that as an adult you would never do? I know, for instance, that I described things that I thought were stupid or silly as being "gay" when I was in high school. It took a friend in college to make me realize just how insensitive and offensive that was, and I have since given up using that term. Similarly, just because a student's profile has lyrics from some terribly profane hip hop song, it doesn't mean that the student is a "bad kid" or unworthy of college entrance. In many cases, high school students still haven't reached the level of awareness that college students are granted through their educations. They don't understand the politics or the power of the language that they use, and it takes people they admire, often college professors or well-educated peers, to show them why they need to change their ways. The more I learned, the better the person I became, more socially aware and socially just.

Furthermore, we have multiple identities, and we should be free to express them. The fact that employers and colleges are now tracking my every move online makes it difficult to do so, and I don't think that is healthy. I admit that while I never believed my personal Facebook account was inappropriate, I did eventually move to making it completely private and creating a public professional account. While I make it a point to avoid doing stupid things, drinking too much, or taking embarrassing photos, I go out often, and more particularly, I like to go to night clubs and dance. I love house music. Several of my friends enjoy the same music and dancing, and so, I often share music on my wall or post updates about our favorite djs being in town. From time to time, pictures also come up, and while none of them are inappropriate, a hiring board might see me in a mini dress with strobe lights in the background and make assumptions. I wanted to communicate with colleagues, and I knew I would be harshly judged. People would assume "oh, she's a partier," and that would be end of that.

But should I stop living at 25 because someone might decide that they want to stalk me online and make judgments based on incomplete information? It makes me angry that I could and probably will be judged on things that have nothing to do with my teaching. I am responsible. I show up to work early, I give good feedback and take time to work with my students, I enjoy collaborating wit my colleagues, and I constantly immerse myself in research. It makes me even more upset that some really amazing students who may have become greater thinkers and doers might never have a chance to sit in my classroom because somebody on the admissions board decided to check their Facebook page and make a judgment call.

In the article, it is also suggested that smart students can use their online presence to showcase themselves, but I would argue that that is capitalism at its worst. First of all, this means a great deal of self-censorship and that is not always a good thing. As we learn from M.L. Pratt, much can be learned in the contact zone, where niceties and consensus is no longer important. Furthermore, the "smart kids" who do this will inevitably be mostly white, upper-middle class students who have had access to computers all their lives and who have had teachers tell them how to shape themselves to fit the professional model. And while we're at it, let's be honest here: a Hispanic boy who enjoys hip hop is more likely to be "screened out" than some White girl who listens to country. White/white collar culture is shaped around professionalism and political correctness; other cultures are not. Inevitably, screening profiles will mean cookie cutter online identities. Like college admissions essays, profiles will all start to sound the same.

Worst of all, though, by screening applicants, rather than educating them, colleges do a disservice to young adults. They deny them the opportunity to interact with new, diverse groups of people who will challenge their hegemonic ideals and ideas. Think of all of the texts and the discussions about those texts that occur in college. I know that my coursework has shaped me, and I know that I am not alone in that sentiment. I would never have picked up Foucault's Discipline and Punish if not for my literary theory course. I would never have read Geneva Smitherman's Talkin and Testifyin, if I wasn't surrounded by Race Theorists, Postcolonialists, and Compositionist. I would think about the world differently. In short, I would not be the person I am today. A true democratic education would look past differences of personal expression and allow students to judge for themselves whose actions/views/beliefs are the ones they want to adopt.

Burniske's Literacy in the Digital Age

I picked up R. W. Burniske's book Literacy in the Digital Age just because it sounded interesting. Lucky for me, I was not disappointed. Burniske's book is all about redefining literacy in a way that meets 21st century students' needs. He takes lame, underdeveloped terms like "computer literacy" and "functional literacy" and revises them so that they become more complex and useful. Burniske explains:

just as we must learn to read and write the alphabet to develop functional literacy, so too must we learn how to ‘read’ visual images, discursive practices, personal ethics, community actions, cultural events, global developments, and humanity in general. (2)

The focus is no longer on a set of operational skills, but instead, a set of reading practices that enable students to navigate their complex worlds, worlds that require much more than an ability to read text or word per minute proficiency. Burniske advocates a set of eight literacies: media literacy, civil literacy, discourse literacy, personal literacy, community literacy, visual literacy, evaluative literacy, and pedagogical literacy. These eight literacies are interactive. They build off of one another. Furthermore, these literacies provide an ethical framework, encouraging positive interaction, teaching students how to deal with "fire," and showing students how they "compose their selves" online.

Burniske's book is also complete with exercises to help promote these literacies and case studies to show how they work in action. Best of all, his exercises are be useful across age ranges. Though the book seems to focus mostly on middle to high school aged students, I can see many of his exercises being easily applicable to an adult literacy program or FYW course.

One of the most useful exercises can be found in a section called "Fostering Personal Literacy." Burniske outlines this exercise as such: "Students must discover or invent a thoughtful, open-ended 'why' question that challenges them, because analysis begins with the question 'Why"' (64). He challenges students to ask "why" questions, which are then answered and responded to again with an additional 'why' question, continuing on through a set of 10 answers and why questions. At the end, he has the students reflect on the process. He says, "With time, they come to realize that What questions lead them to the cul-de-sac of static answers rather than the open road of dynamic, arguable ones" (66). What students learn is how to perform real analysis, and when turned inwards, it can help them discover how they want to define themselves and why.

Since technology is a part of my course, I'm thinking about how I can make sure my students leave my course being literate in 8/9 of Burniske's literacies (I guess they could skip the pedagogical for the time being).

Put a Cork In It!: Corkboard.me and the Worst Essays Ever

Part I: Corkboard.me

It's not always easy to get a class involved, especially if your students are shy. Corkboard.me, however, seemed to really be effective in facilitating class interaction. Corkboard.me is a virtual representation of the classroom bulletin board. Students can stick post-its up anonymously and synchronously about just about anything. In my classroom, we use it as a brainstorming tool. My students post their ideas, while we have our Corkboard showing on the projection screen. The sheer number of post-its on our Corkboard show just how well it worked. For the last assignment, about 30 post-its were put up in 5 minutes.

Last semester, I used Wallwisher to have students do some brainstorming for their Writing as Activism projects. They posted problems they foresee the world facing in the next fifty years. As you can see in this older post, students had fun using it and really did a great job of brainstorming and had fun doing it. Many of their thought bubbles were later represented in their projects.

The problem is that Wallwisher couldn't handle the class volume. Some of my students simply couldn't get online to post. There were always "glitches in the matrix." As an alternative, I've settled with Corkboard.me, which is working great!

Part II: The Most Boring Essay Ever

In addition to the "How We See the Future" brainstorming, we worked on a new task this semester: the most boring essay topics ever. These ranged from "what basic addition means to me" to "how to use a toilet" and everything in between. I saw the students become animated instantly. Later, I had students chose a topic from the many that were posted on our Corkboard. They proceeded to try to write the most interesting introduction possible.

The next task was to pull an "audience" out of the box and to rewrite their introduction in a way that would be interesting for their selected audience, which could be anything from a lawyer to 200 clowns.

Finally, they added an "role," which they again chose from a box. They had to take on the role, while still addressing the audience, and trying to keep it interesting. Students might be magicians, rockstars, know-nothings, etc.

The results were mostly humorous, but it definitely opened up conversation about how students consciously shift their writing when they imagine an audience or a role. They realized how much vocabulary and tone played a part in the evolution of their paragraph. It was a little harder to get them to see how their ideas and examples were changing, but they did see that too.

Wrestling with Writing

Just a little something to make you smile when writing gets you down, a short video about the fight with writing, created with Xtranormal.





I also think Xtranormal is a great resource for teachers and students. I've seen some really creative uses of it, including practicing arguments and counterarguments and writing mini dramas. I also think it would be a great way to virtually perform SLAM poetry or record interviews where the interviewed subject's identity must remain anonymous.

ePortfolios: How To & Do You?

The end of the semester is rapidly approaching, and I've been thinking about the best way to do student writing portfolios, since I am committed to improving digital literacy, both for my students and myself.

As a model, I created an ePortfolio (work in progress) for my graduate course using GoogleSites with GoogleDocs. Here are the basic steps:

1. Select Blank Template
2. Add themes and design elements as you see fit
3. Make homepage the table of contents
4. Click edit side bar and delete the old navigation tab, then add a new one by clicking "add to sidebar" and "add navigation"
5. Upload documents, powerpoints, etc. to GoogleDocs
6. Create pages for the pieces of the portfolio
7. On each page, add text introducing your work
8. On each page, click "Insert Document" under the "Insert" tab, and add your document to the page
9. Link in any additional work (such as blogs, wikis, websites, videos)
10. Add pages to navigation bar by clicking "edit side bar," "edit navigation," then "add page" or "add url"
11. Don't forget to save your work!

Interestingly enough, this ePortfolio actually stemmed from my desire to provide my students my bio. My bio on GoogleSites now links to my whole ePortfolio, so they can see the kinds of writing I am doing as a student, use it as a model if necessary, and hopefully feel that I can empathize with them a bit more.

I think it also provides a great, easy-access sample of my writing, my CV, and my bio for future employers, and shows them that I have a valuable skill-- digital literacy.

Yesterday, some of my students were putting together their sites in class. Some of them still wanted to do paper-based portfolios, and I allowed that option. The majority, however, were excited about getting to personalize their ePortfolios and thought it was a neat way to present their semester-long work.

Teachers:

• How many of you use ePortfolios? 
• What platforms do you use for ePortfolios?
• Do you have a teaching ePortfolio?

Students:

• Do you have an ePortfolio?
• Did you enjoy making it?
• What do you think is the best way to present your work (powerpoint, website, video, etc.)?

Parents:

• How do you feel about the idea of ePortfolios?
• Does it make you uncomfortable to know your child's work is available electronically or even via web?
• Do you like that it can be easily shared with other family members, friends, potential employers, and colleges?

National Day of Blogging for Ed Reform: How Would I Change Education?

My favorite tv teacher of all time,
Boy Meet's World's Mr. Feeny.
He was always interested in his students' futures
and took pride in his teaching.

According to my Twitter tweeps, today is the National Day of Blogging for Education Reform. Teachers across the nation are blogging about the improvements that can be made to change education for the better. Many are collaborating on Cooperative Catalyst, an education reform blog, to create an archive of changes we can implement to reform education.

Though the majority of the blogging teachers teach K-12 and are much more experienced than I am, I thought it was my duty as someone on both sides of the line to chime in (I left high school behind only seven years ago, and I am still taking graduate courses, working towards a Doctor of Arts degree). Plus, as a college writing instructor and writing center tutor, I get the products of their efforts. I get to see the end result of public education.

So, here are my top 5 suggestions for positive education reforms:

1. Context-based learning
2. Student-centered inquiry-based learning
3. Collaborative learning
4. Digital literacy
5. Knowledge of politics

Context-based learning
As a student, I find that I learn the most when I can ground theory in practice. If I find a theory useless, I will ultimately end up either not understanding it or disregarding it. I also think that many people feel the same, which is why, as teachers, it is essential that we can show our students how classroom practice can be put to practical use. 

In my Composition classroom this semester, my biggest fear was that my students wouldn't see a need for brushing up their writing skills because most of them are intending to become Physician Assistants after graduation. Luckily, they are smart people with real thirsts for self-improvement, and this was never the case. I do, however, still try to actively make a connection between the types of writing we do in class and how they can use those skills in their future fields. Of course, context-based learning isn't necessarily occupation-related. It is, however, important to know what is going on the lives of students outside the classroom and to find a way to bridge the gap between classroom activities and real life usage. I try to give them writing tasks within the contexts of their lives: How did you learn to read and write? How do you define your beliefs? What are the changes you wish to see in the world? I think, though, that there are millions of ways to make class lessons context-based. Mine are not the prime examples.

Ultimately, by separating the "real world" from "school," we only cause a separation between learning and living.


Student-centered inquiry-based learning
This one is two-fold. First, the classroom should be centered around the students. The students should be leading discussions and doing self-assessments and self-evaluations. They also shouldn't feel that I am the great God of Knowledge, passing my education down to them. In some ways, yes, of course, I can give them tips and tricks to help them succeed, and I can share with them facts and stories that will enhance their learning, but ultimately, students shouldn't believe that they are empty vessels to be filled. They should believe that they are thinking, learning, acting beings who have a great deal to share. This creates more investment in their own educations. Furthermore, self-assessment and evaluations lead to greater self-motivation. Rather than doing things to improve their grades, students begin doing things to improve themselves.

I also believe that students learn most from being inquirers. I don't want my students to memorize the answers, I want them to learn them. I also don't want them to feel that just because they haven't mastered something, they can't talk about it. I want them to be willing to ask questions, investigate, challenge "common" knowledge, and synthesize. I believe that inquiry-based learning promotes critical thinking. Even if my students doesn't know how to solve a distance problem, I want them to know where to start looking for information and how to start solving that problem. In my writing classroom, that translates more significantly into analytical thinking, learning how to interact with discourse communities, and how to engage with texts and research.


Collaborative Learning
Learning simply does not happen in a vacuum. We learn everything we learn from other people, from the internet, from books, from our interaction with outside forces. We rarely happen to stumble on a truth by sifting through our consciousnesses. It takes conversation, or at the very least dialectic thought, to create new knowledge.

Collaborative learning really pushes the idea of dialectic to the forefront. First, collaborative learning is often more fun. Students like being hands-on and getting to socialize rather than sitting in isolated rows and being silenced. Second, collaborative learning allows students to participate in a democratic learning process, which is driven by challenges and negotiations. Third, collaborative learning can help students understand things from multiple perspectives. It allows for empathetic understanding, and also helps them discover the loopholes in their own logic.


Digital Literacy
The internet is an amazing resource. It is a place where you can fulfill almost every curiosity. Want to know about hippopotamus mating rituals? Google. Want to know about Angelina Jolie's latest film? IMDB. Want to make a kite? eHow. Furthermore, I think that we something forget that internet is also called the World Wide Web for a reason. It connects things, much like we do in conversation. You may start off wanting to learn about George Eliot, but eventually, you find yourself more interested in learning about Natural History, all because you clicked a hyperlink. There is more information on the internet than any teacher could ever possibly teach, and it's often available in ways that are way more fun to access than being preached to or reading in a dated textbook. Why not use that to our advantage as students and teachers?

Also, it is imperative that teachers enhance digital literacy because of all of the dangers involved. We want our students to learn to use the web responsibly and safely. We want to end cyberbullying and help our students avoid the overexposure of personal information. By showing my students all of the positive ways they can use social media and technology, I believe that they will be less likely to fall into these traps. If I show them that they can use podcasts, wikis, blogs, YouTube videos, etc. to help them change the world, they will be less like to destroy it or themselves.

Plus-- if you weren't sold yet-- employers find real value in employees who have mastered technology. If you can come up with a creative, up-to-date way to market a corporation's service or products, you become an asset.
 

Knowledge of Politics
This is probably the one reform that seems out of place on my list, but I promise you it is a vital reform. When I speak of knowledge of politics, I do not refer to asses and elephants, I mean something much deeper; I mean the politics of identity, language, and action.

Teaching students to recognize the underlying politics of their own behavior or of the behavior of others can really change how they view the world around them. This is especially important in our Digital Age, where students' digital footprints will represent them to unknown audiences and stand as a record for quite some time. By teaching them the politics of their actions, students will no longer see things as simply black and white. They will begin to understand that a kissy-face picture on Facebook says one thing and choosing to ignore the internet all together says another. They will understand that calling something "gay" when it is uncool promotes homophobia and that telling someone to "stop acting like a girl" promotes sexism. Most importantly, they will see that these seemingly small and arbitrary choices may reveal much more than intended.

Though this complicates things, sometimes in confusing or even hurtful ways, it is really the basis of reform. If we want students to make educated decisions on the big issues then we should teach them to make educated decisions about the seemingly smaller issues, the ones that they have control over right now, their own representations.

New Semester, New Tricks

Though this semester isn't quite over, the new semester is just around the corner. I've been dabbling in lots of digital writing venues and social networks trying to find out what works best, what's the most fun, what's going to inspire engagement, etc. in my college composition classroom.

I've also been thinking about alternatives to boring old Blackboard, trying new types of digital writing (like scripting podcasts for iTunes or documentaries for YouTube), and addressing the digital humanities in my classroom. We use the discussion board, digital dropbox, and chat features on Blackboard, but those seem so basic when there are so many more creative options out there!

Here is a list of some things I've been playing with:

Social Networks

1. Grou.ps: This site lets you build your own social network, akin to Facebook. It has tools to add wikis, file sharing, video chat, and comments. You can also choose themes and run multiple networks. Very nifty!

2. GoogleWave: The feedback on Google Wave hasn't been super positive, and it looks like it might be on the way out. While it exists, though, I'm willing to give it a shot. I've never used it myself, seeing as I don't have most of my friends' Google contact information, but the concept is very cool. I think it could, perhaps, be a useful tool for online tutoring or writing conferences with students. 

3. Twitter: My new favorite toy! As a teacher, I have been using Twitter to develop a PLN (Personal Learning Network). I follow chats like #edchat, #ntchat (new teacher chat), #engchat, and #eltchat. It's amazing what you can learn from 140 characters of writing from a teacher somewhere across the globe. 

Digital Writing Venues

1. Blogger & Wordpress: Though I clearly stuck with Blogger for my own blog, both of these websites offer fairly similar traditional blogging options.

2. Tumblr: Tumblr is also a blog site, but it seems to be geared towards producing photojournals rather than predominately text-based blogs.

3. Glogster: Is it a blog or is it a poster? Need I say more. I think Glogster has some really interesting potential for students. You can create hyperlinkable posters, complete with sound, video clips, images, and clip art. Very cool. It could make an interesting e-portfolio homepage. I think it could also work well as a first-day introduce-yourself-to-the-class type of assignment. 

4. Wikispaces: I didn't use a wiki for the course I teach this semester, but I am trying to use one as part of a graduate course project (though I'm not using wikispaces). It's an interesting process, and I think I'm learning as I go along, as are my collaborating classmates. I'm curious how teachers are using wikis in their classrooms!

Some other cool resources

1. Wozaik: Wozaik is one of my new favorite tools. Wozaik creates web mosaics of bookmarks. You can clip out images from pages or thumbnails, and Wozaik complies them into lists that you can see and click. It's great for compiling resource archives, blogrolls, or just sharing favorite websites with others. You can share the lists via Fb, Twitter, or email, too.

2. Xtranormal: Create animated videos from text. I saw someone use Xtranormal to work on arguments and counterarguments. I think it has some really interesting possibilities for classroom use.

I'd love to get some input from teachers about technology they have used in their classrooms. What are some of the technologies you are using in your classrooms? Which did you find to be the most successful? Was anything a total failure?

I'd also love to hear from students! What would you be interested in using in a writing class? What do you already use? Is there anything that sounds absolutely ridiculous to you?

Wallwisher Update: A First Time User's Review

Wallwisher actually ended up making its way into my classroom today. Students thought it was a cool tool. They were excited about using it, and one sutdent even asked if I would leave it up for them to see for years after they were done with the class.

Today, I used it to segue into our final Writing as Activism project. I asked students to write stickies about all of the things they thought were going to be problems in the future. Many of them foresaw war, disease, obesity, and financial hardship in our future. Since they were all stuck in clusters, it was easy to see where ideas overlapped.

The one problem that we did have was that with 23 people trying to access the same board at once, things were running slow. For many of my students, error messages bogged them down and left them unable to participate immediately, or at all.

My students said that they are going to continue posting their ideas, as well as using Wallwisher in place of our Open Forum anonymous discussion board on Blackboard. This week, they are going to share their Halloween costume ideas and pictures! I promised I would share mine too.

I also think this will also be useful as place for them to share links, video, pictures, and research with one another for their final projects, as many of them are concerned with similar issues, such as government policy and public health.

Finally, I encouraged them to create their own walls, if they enjoyed using it in class, and link them up to our class wall. I'm curious to see who will do it and how active the wall will become.

I'm excited to see where this program takes classroom discussion, and I think I will be incorporating it more my future classes.

Wallwisher: An Awesome Digital Take on the Classroom Bulletin Board

So, I just stumbled upon Wallwisher thanks to Twitter user, TeachaKidd. What a neat program, and it's FREE! Wallwisher is something like Twitter combined with the look of computerized post-its or a digital scrapbook. You can add short messages and include links to audio, videos, and pictures. The text boxes stay where ever you click, so that you can layer them, move them into clusters, and see multiple messages all at the same time, unlike other programs, such as Twitter and Facebook, which push old text down the page and out of the way.

I could see this being a useful tool to enhance class discussion. You could post something like "race" or "gender" and have students to do short free associations. You could create a wall of your students favorite links, books, music, etc. You could even just make small talk. I think there are endless very cool possibilities for this program.

I'm going to give it a test run with my class this week, following TeachaKidd's example and asking my students to share their Halloween costume ideas. If they can figure out how to use it, I will consider using it for bigger and better things, and evaluate whether or not it is something I would consider incorporating regularly in my future courses.

One Note on OneNote

So, I was debating spending a cool $200 on LiveScribe's Pulse SmartPen to bring to graduate school and my FYW composition class until a good friend recommended that I try Microsoft OneNote. That good friend deserves a huge hug because Microsoft OneNote is AWESOME!

Microsoft OneNote allows you to create new notebooks, new pages, and new tabs, and chock them full of text, pictures, links, documents, etc. Now, instead of lugging around four different notebooks and textbooks, I have all of my notes neatly stored in OneNote (and my PDFs and eBooks on NOOKstudy). I never have to fumble through sheets of paper to find my class notes, and I can actually keep up with the rate of lecture speed.

This is a screen shot of my class notes from one of my graduate courses:

Click to see a larger view.

As you can see, I was able to take notes, separate them into subjects, and even draw diagrams.

What makes it different than writing in a notebook or typing them in a word processor is that OneNote acts like a digital scrapbook. I can paste in pictures, links, tables, documents, etc. Plus, when I copy and paste information from the web, it automatically adds source information to the bottom. On top of all of those cool features, you never have to hit a save button. It automatically saves everything at every step, so that you can never lose your work. Once it's typed, it's stored.

The best feature though is its link to WindowsLive (you can create an account for free). I can have all of my work automatically uploaded to my account so that even if my computer crashes all of my notes are stored. I also have sharing capabilities with networks and friends.

I use OneNote for everything now! I keep my class notes there. I keep my story notes for my creative work there. I have my lesson plans stored there, as well as my class roster, student-teacher conference notes, and a teacher log.

Some great possibilities for students using OneNote:

• use it to take notes in class
• share notes with classmates or get notes when you're absent
• keep a class notebook (something like a private wiki) where everyone can add text, pictures, links, etc. 

Some great possibilities for teachers using OneNote:

• create student reading journals or class scrapbooks using OneNote that can be uploaded and shared via WindowsLive
• outline units and lesson plans, linking in readings, websites, pictures, etc. (automatically backed up)
• keep a teacher journal
• have your notes linked to WindowsLive so that you never lose them
• share your plans and research with other teachers via WindowsLive

Some great possibilities for writers:

• create a wiki for your work that can be easily shared with publishers via WindowsLive (plus, no one can erase your information or add their own incorrect information)keep all of your research in one place
• copy and paste blogs, articles, documents, stories etc. from the internet and have the source information automatically saved so that you don't have to initially cite every source, but can cite them properly as they are used instead
• treat it like a scrapbook for sources of inspiration
• keep all of your research in one place (rather than napkins, scraps of paper, and t.p.)
• keep a publicity journal once you become a published writer
• have your story notes automatically backed up on WindowsLive

Paper Thin

Between lesson plans, handouts, and multiple drafts of assignments, the reams of paper can really pile up. Not only is that bad for Mama Earth, but it's ergonomically unwise for professors and students to be carrying so much weight. So, trying to do my part to save the world (and to seem cool and up-to-date), I've been experimenting with ways to go paperless.

For those of us who use PDF files, I really don't think I can say enough good things about Barnes and Noble's NOOKstudy software-- not to be confused with the NOOK eReader. It's a FREE download that only requires the student to make an account with BarnesandNoble.com. NOOKstudy allows students to read eTextbooks, ePub files, and PDFs on their computers. Unlike reading the file in Adobe Reader, however, NOOKstudy allows you to:

• take notes and even add tags to those notes 
• highlight passages in multiple colors
• easily flip from page to page
• enlarge the size of the page so that it can be easily read
• look up words instantly

As a teacher, NOOKstudy helps me prepare my lesson plans. I can look at what I've highlighted and the notes I've taken and propose discussion questions. I can immediately see all of the marked passages without having to flip through pages. Plus, I can categorize all of the readings, so that all of the class files are easily accessible. It also lightens my load. I can refer back to past readings without having to carry all of them. Finally, I can take new notes every semester, without taking over the page, and I can easily keep track of my notes and hang on to them for the following years.

As a student, the benefits are fairly similar. It mostly comes down to organization. Being able to label my notes saves me an immense amount of time when it comes time for me to use them in papers. I can copy and paste the text right into my papers, as well, saving me from having to look back and forth between files until I get the wording of the passage right.

A Screenshot of my NOOKstudy reading, highlighting, and tagged notes. Double-click for an up-close view.